Alternate Endings
by Alexandra Carter
Summary: Set the winter after HKT. Consider this AU with cannon pairings including K/Z. A new rider joins the King's Green Riders.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I am not KB, nor do I own anything here but the plot. I don't have anything of value so suing me would be a huge waste of time.

AN: This takes place shortly after HKT during that next winter, but I lent my books out so if I mess up some things let me know and I will fix them. This story is AU but will end up K/Z even if I don't mention them too much. They're more in the background not the main characters. The story starts off a bit slow going day to day but it will pick up after the first few chapters.

**Prologue**

Grandmother sat by the small cook fire and contemplated her yarns. She was uncertain which to use this time as her spell was complex and as far as she knew had never been attempted. But then again, their need had never been so great as it was now. Stuck in the forest like a bunch of common thieves instead of the true nobles they were. Well now it would be the kings downfall when she used this spell of calling. She would call forth such an evil, the likes of which no one had ever seen, and it would destroy King Zachary and all of his precious nobles and that pesky rider too. She simply had to choose the best yarn for this task. She chose a deep red for bloodshed, a stunning blue for a far-reaching call, a warm gold for binding, and debated on the final color. Should she choose the purple or the black? In the end, she went with the black thinking of the destruction and death that this monster she called would do. Grandmother started her spell, weaving the yarn around and around the frame she had made from sticks of the forest of Blackveil. She reached for the black yarn and started to weave it with the others. What she didn't see in the flicking light was that the yarn wasn't black at all, but instead it was such a deep green that it only appeared to be black in the flickering firelight. Grandmother continued to chant and weave the yarn until it was all gone and she held a square shaped cube of woven threads. This, she threw into the flames, finishing her chant and succumbed to the blackness with a smile upon her face as the dark sky exploded with light above her.

**Chapter One**

The pair scrambled up the rocky hill towards the summit and a scraggly band of trees. From the top they would be able to see ahead to their next campsite and get a peak at what the weather was doing further off to the north. The dark storm clouds had been gathering for the last hour and she was sure that they would be getting wet tonight; she just hoped it would hold off until after they reached camp.

Reaching the top, she pulled her blowing horse to a halt under a pine tree and looked off to the north. The dark clouds were still heading in her direction at a fast pace and she could see the haze of rain underneath them. "Well isn't that just dandy RJ." She said patting her horse on his neck. "It looks like we are going to get wet today after all. I hope you're in the mood for a bit of a run as I want to make it under cover before that rain hits." Pushing RJ forward into a trot they quickly made it to the far side of the hill and picked their way down. By the time they reached level ground the rain had started to pour and she quickly pulled her duster around her and buttoned it closed. "Lets go buddy." She called as she kicked RJ up into a gallop and headed towards the forest ahead.

Half way to their goal, lightning started to flash and the thunder was so loud she thought she was going to go deaf. "Faster RJ." She cried pushing him even faster through what was now turning into a muddy mess of a meadow. Just then a flash of lightning hit so close that RJ skidded to a stop and tried to bolt off the other way. She barely managed to hang on as she couldn't see a dang thing after the flash of light and her rain soaked gear was slippery. "Dang it." She muttered as she hauled on one rein, pulling RJ around and letting him continue his mad dash towards the woods. She could smell the ozone and the air seemed to crackle as they rode through it. Several strides from safety there was another big flash and she felt RJ fall out from underneath her and then there was nothing but blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I am not KB, nor do I own anything here but the plot. I don't have anything of value so suing me would be a huge waste of time.

**Chapter Two**

"Ugg." She groaned as she started to regain conciseness. Keeping her eyes closed, she slowly moved one part at a time to see if she was still whole. After she could feel everything worked, if a bit stiffly, she opened her eyes and blinked several times. "Huh?" She said confused. "Where did the sun come from?" Pulling herself up into a sitting position she took a look around and found that she was sitting in a rather large mud puddle in the middle of a dry winter meadow. Glancing behind her she could see RJ lying on the ground with his legs tucked underneath him. He looked just as confused as she was but otherwise seemed to be fine. "I don't think we are in Kansas anymore RJ." She said jokingly as she stumbled to her feet. She almost sat right back down as her head started to spin like a top and she felt like she hadn't slept in weeks. While she was trying to get the word to stop spinning, RJ got to his feet and gave himself a shake, making his tack jingle and creak. RJ walked over to his rider and gave her a bump with his nose, almost sending her sprawling. "Quit that, you silly pony." She childed while pushing his nose away, "I don't have anything for you and why are we wet but the ground is dry?" Looking around the meadow, there was no rocky hill, and while there was a stand of trees to the south, it was no forest. Both her and RJ were soaked from the downpour but the ground around them, excluding the puddle of mud, was completely dry.

"This is just too weird." She mumbled, staggering over to RJ's side and grabbing the stirrup. It took her a couple tries to get her foot into the stirrup and then a few more tries before she actually got aboard, but she did finally get on his back. Cursing her pounding head, she turned RJ towards a good looking direction and nudged him forward at the walk. She didn't trust herself to stay on at anything faster and she didn't think RJ was all that steady at the moment either.

After what seemed like days, but was really only an hour or so, they stumbled onto a roadway. "Left or right RJ." She asked not really caring at the moment which way they went as long as it lead to somewhere with a bed and some aspirin. As it was getting dark, she looked both directions and then chose right as it seemed to be brighter that way. "Right it is boy. Now lets hope there is a house or town this way and they don't mind having a horse in their living room." Turning onto the roadway, they continued at a snails pace with RJ doing all the work as she drifted in and out of conciseness. After a mile or more, RJ stumbled over a hole, and his sleepy rider tumbled out of the saddle and hit the ground with a thud. She remained still even with RJ poking at her with his nose. With a sigh, the tired gelding cocked a hind leg and drifted off to sleep standing over his rider.

The night passed with the girl sleeping in the middle of the roadway and RJ keeping a sleepy watch over her. Shortly after dawn, the geldings ears perked up and he looked back down the road the direction they came from. A cloud of dust was appearing and he could hear the clomping of hooves and people talking. He let out a nicker towards the other horses and gave his rider a hard nudge with his nose trying to wake her. She didn't stir, so he grabbed her coat in his teeth and gave her a shake. She groaned but didn't wake so he danced around her giving another nicker to the horses, which were closing in on them.

The dust cloud was made up of several wagons pulled by horses and a few outriders providing protection for the caravan. The riders in the front broke off from the group and cantered over to the fallen girl and RJ.

"Whatcha make of this there Tom." The larger man said pulling his sturdy looking gray to a stop beside the dancing RJ. "Don't know Dover, looks like this rider took a tumble." Tom said from the top of his bay gelding. "Looks like a Greenie to me with that funny looking saddle and green coat." Dover thought a moment and said, "Do ya think that if we brought this here rider up to the city we would get a reward or something. You know for saving her and bringing those there messages to the king." While Tom seemed to think things over the caravan rolled to a stop behind them and RJ stopped his dancing to peer at the other horses. They were a motley bunch of workhorses but at least they were horses and not donkeys. RJ hated donkeys with a passion. He thought they smelled funny and what was up with the crazy looking ears? He was so busy checking the other horses out that he was quite surprised when the one named Tom grabbed his trailing reins and pulled him away from his rider. Dover, along with another man, grabbed his rider by the arms and dragged her over to the nearest wagon and dumped her inside next to several barrels filled with different wares. "I hope we get a good reward for this." Dover stated as he climbed back aboard his gray horse and turned her back down the road towards the city.

It didn't take the caravan more then a couple hours to reach the city gates and they slowly made their way up the winding way towards the castle on the top of the hill. All the while the rider slept on, unaware of her surroundings with RJ tied to the wagon where he could look in on her.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See chapter one/two.

Chapter 3

Leaving the caravan behind to unload, Tom and Dover grabbed the rider and laid her over RJ's back. Tom grabbed a length of rope and preceded to tie the rider on, so they didn't have to worry about her sliding off the side on their way up to the castle gate. "I hope we get some coins for this here rider or maybe even an award from the king himself." Dover stated, grabbing RJ's reins and leading him towards his gray mare so he could mount back up. "Maybe this is an important one and we'll get invited to stay up in the castle." Tom replied, warming up to the idea. "Yep. I bet we'll get our own servants and everything. Won't have to lift a hand for anything. Yes sir, I bet we'll be living high on the hog then." Both men encouraged their mounts to walk faster towards the gate dreaming of what kind of rewards they would get for doing something so selfless as helping out one of the kings riders.

At the castle gate, they stopped and waited for a unit of the light horse to get out of the way so they could move onward. To the men it seemed to take forever for the horses to get out of the way and for them to make their way to the castle doors. A guard at the gate had sent word on ahead that they had an injured rider coming so a mender would be on hand as soon as they reached the steps.

Ben reached the steps just as they rode up and he quickly went to RJ's side and reached for the ropes to untie her. He didn't recognize her or the horse but Ben didn't pay much mind to the rider horses unless he had too and there were quite a few new riders roaming around. Between the three of them they got her down from RJ and carried her off to the mending wing. Luckily it wasn't too far from the main doors and they reached them quickly. Laying her down on the bed Tom asked, "Uh, we are going to get a reward for bringing this rider in aren't we?" Ben just stared at the man while Dover added, "Yep, brought this here rider a long way so she could get fixed up here. We need something for our time ya know. Slowed our wagons down lots cause we had to go slow so she wouldn't bounce."

"I'll see what I can do for you." Ben said writing a short note on some parchment and handing it to them. "Take this note down to the quartermaster and he'll give you something for your time." Tom and Dover smiled with glee and hurried out of the room, not even bothering with a thank you as they hooted with joy. Shaking his head, Ben looked down at his patient and wondered who she was. She was no rider that was for sure, unless her brooch had left her during her ride. With a shrug, he pulled off her greatcoat and boots and checked her over. He was worried that she wasn't awake, but it did make things go faster for him if the patient was quiet. Tom and Dover had left so quickly that he hadn't had time to ask if she had been awake while she was with them or even if they knew her name. Ben couldn't find any obvious injuries, so he grabbed some smelling salts and held them under her nose to wake her up. It took a minute or so but she started to come around with a groan and mumbled, "Anyone get the plate number of that truck that ran me over?"

"I don't know what a truck is and why it had plates on it but you are in Sancor City." Ben told her, maybe she had a bad knock on the head as she seemed a bit delusional to him. Coming fully awake she blinked up at him and replied, "Huh? Rancor what? Did I die and end up in Star Wars?" Taking a closer look at Ben she added, "Am I stuck at a renaissance fair or have you not gotten out much in the last century?"

Now Ben was really confused so he started with the basic questions first, choosing to ignore her last couple comments. "My name is Ben and I'm a mender here in the castle. You were found on the road not far from here and some traders brought you in. Can you tell me your name and where you were headed?"

"I'm Erin and I was on a ride to the second campsite when all hell broke loose and in a flash of lightning, we were dropped into this meadow soaking wet." She told him, glancing around the room. Sitting up she continued, "Where's RJ? Did you do something with him? I need a phone, I have to call Gran, I'm sure she's worried by now." Not seeing a phone or anything electric, candles, who used those anymore? She tried to stand up and found herself sitting right back down holding her spinning head in her hands.

"If you mean your horse, then he was taken to the stables, if you are talking about a person then I don't know as you were found alone. Lie back down now." Ben answered, helping her swing her legs back onto the bed. "Do you remember hitting your head at any time in the last day or so?" Not waiting for an answer he continued, "I don't know what a fone is but I can send a messenger to your grandmothers house to let her know where you are. Just give me her name and the name of her village and I'll send someone right away."

Deciding to play along, Erin answered him saying, "Her name is Deloris Day and she lives in Casper. I'm pretty sure I did hit my head a few times over the past day or so, if I could have something for the headache, I'll get my horse and be on my way." Chuckling at her Ben replied. "You are staying right here for at least until tomorrow so we can figure out what to do with you. You can't just go around impersonating a kings rider and get away with it. I've never heard of Casper village either. What province is it in?" Disgruntled, Erin snapped back, "The only person I am impersonating is myself and I just want to get out of this Podunk place, get my horse, and go home! If you don't know where Casper is then I'm not telling you so you can bother my poor grandma who's probably worried sick that I haven't come back yet, cause I'm at least a day late as far as I can tell, and if someone doesn't find my some aspirin soon I'm going to scream."

Just then a knock was heard and the captain poked her head in. "Sorry to interrupt Ben but I heard you have a rider in here." Ben turned to face the captain and answered her. "Not one of ours captain, just someone who looks like one I'm afraid."

Erin mumbled shaking her head, "I am so a rider you moron, what else would I be doing on a horse. Swimming perhaps? Maybe a nice round of golf." The captain just raised an eyebrow at her and asked Ben, "Any idea who she is and what she was doing masquerading as one of us?" "Her name is Erin and I have no idea what she was doing but I think she had a bad knock to the head because she says the strangest things."

"I am still in the room you know." Erin stated getting angry. "You don't have to talk like I'm not here and I have no hidden agenda, I just want to go home and get some fricken aspirin!"

"Maybe we should talk outside." Ben said heading for the door. "I'll bring you some tea to help with the headache."

"Thank you." Erin grumbled as she watched him leave the room and shut the door. As soon as she heard their footsteps fade away, she carefully stood up from the bed and walked to the door listening for them. Not hearing anything, she grabbed her duster and slid back into her boots and opened the door a crack. Peeking both ways and seeing no one, Erin snuck out the door and hurried off down the corridor, hopefully in the opposite direction as the others. Making a few random turns, just to throw them off her trail she thought, Erin continued to check over her shoulder but saw no one. Happy with herself, she turned another corner and slammed into what felt like a brick wall and bounced backwards and landed on the floor. Looking up, all she could see was a tall man dressed all in black with a rather impressive sword handing from his belt, and he was frowning at her. "This can't be good." She thought to herself and she started to scoot backwards on her hands and feet, trying to get away from this Andre the giant looking guy. Bumping into the wall behind her, she asked, "You come here often or is this a special occasion?" He simply rolled his eyes, reached down and grabbed her by the arm, and yanked her to her feet. "Come with me." Was all he said in return.

Erin was being dragged behind Andre (as she called him) and wasn't really having the best day so far. Not only did she not know where she was, her horse was "missing", she had a bad headache, and all she wanted to do was cuddle up with a bottle of aspirin and sleep for twelve hours. "Where are we going?" She asked trying to tug her arm out of his grasp and having no luck. He just gave her a "don't mess with me" look over his shoulder and tugged back on her arm, causing her to stumble forward and crash into him again. "Do you make a habit of running into people or am I just lucky?" He drawled while holding her upright.

"He speaks." Erin replied blushing at her clumsiness, "Nope. It's just you as far as I can tell. Now where are we going again?" Shaking his head, he continued down the corridor and after a couple more turns had her back where she started at the mending wing. "Awe man, not here again." She grumbled as Ben hurried over and pointed out her room. Andre pulled her inside with a smirk and let her go. He then left the room telling Ben that she was his problem now and to keep an eye on his patients because that wasn't his job. "Thanks a lot giant man." She muttered as she flopped down on the bed. She would just wait until they left her alone and escape later. "Here's your tea." Ben said setting the mug down on the nightstand. "You may want to drink it soon as its getting cool. I suggest staying put as you don't really want to run into the weapons at night. They are rather intimidating." Ben walked back to the door and wished her goodnight as he pulled it closed.

"Thanks." Erin said to the closed door and reached over and sipped her tea. She wasn't much of a fan, but her grandma liked tea so she had learned to drink it even if it was too bitter for her taste. She must have dozed off after the tea so her idea of sneaking out right away was put on hold for a few hours. Waking up with the need to use the little cowgirls room, she went to the door and found it locked. "You suck Ben." She grumbled as she searched around for something she could go potty in. Remembering those school trips to the museum, she checked under the bed and found a chamber pot. "Not what I would like but it beats the alternative." After she was finished she climbed back into bed and went back to sleep. Hopefully, someone would come let her out later.

Time passed quickly as it tends to do while you are sleeping and Erin woke up to find her headache mostly gone and her body a bit smelly after spending a few days in the same clothes. "Ick." She thought to herself. "I hope they have a bucket or something because I can't be out in public smelling this way." Sitting up in bed, she took another look around the small room and realized that she hadn't missed much in her first look around last night. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she stood up and stretched. Then there was a knock on the door and Ben poked his head in. "Glad to see you're up and about this morning." He commented while pushing the door open all the way and walking in with a tray of food and another mug of tea. "Here's your breakfast and I'll be back in an hour to check you out again and then we can decide what to do with you."

"Alright." Erin said and sat back down on the edge of the bed holding the tray in her lap. "Thanks Ben." She added as he closed the door on his way out. Checking out the tray, there was the tea, a chunk of bread and what looked like a bowl of broth. Not being picky, Erin started in on her breakfast and soon cleaned her tray of food and drink. Now full, she set the tray on the nightstand and laid back down to wait for Ben to come back.

Meanwhile, while Erin was having breakfast, Ben was meeting with Captain Mapstone and Mara to discus what to do with her. "I don't know much about her." Ben said taking a sip of his tea. "She did look like a rider with her greatcoat but it is a different style then ours as was the rest of her clothing. I thought her brooch left her at first but then when you didn't recognize her I figured she was trying to fool someone into thinking she was a rider but something went wrong." Setting down his mug, he continued, "She also talks about the strangest things like fones and trucks with plates on them. I think maybe she has a bad head injury or she is insane."

"Did you find anything in her saddlebags Mara." The captain asked her chief rider. "Nothing too interesting. Her gear is similar to ours the only strange things were in her saddlebags." Mara dumped the saddlebags contents onto the captains desk, and spread them out. "Some strange bars of what looks like fruit and grain, I didn't taste it so I'm not sure. A strange bottle, that's not made of glass but looks like it, full of what smells like water, a shiny silver blanket thing, and some things that smell like mint but they are wrapped in strange clear paper. There is also a pair of stockings and a funny box with a cross on it. That box had what looks like mending tools and a small sewing kit." Mara paused as the captain looked over everything on her desk. "As for the horse, he seems normal if not a bit exhausted from his journey. He does keep looking over towards the castle and whinnying every once in a while. He could be a stolen messenger horse that bonded with someone else too." They all sat in silence for a moment thinking things over. Finally, the captain make a decision. "Here's what we will do. Ben, I want you to keep her in the mending wing until tomorrow, drug her if you have too to keep her there. It's audience day with the king so I have to be there the rest of the day, but in the morning, send her to me and we'll see if any of the brooches take to her. If they do, she could be a bit like Karigan and be a rider through different means then normal." The captain stood and motioned for the others to head out of her office. "Mara, I want you to keep an eye on that horse of hers to see if he has any messenger horse habits. It's to bad the Frost's won't be here for a few more months or we could just ask him if the horse was one of his. Send a green foot if you have any problems."

"Yes captain." Ben and Mara responded and headed back to their duties as the captain headed off to met with the king.

AN: If you could review that would be great. Like it/hate it, etc. The next chapter is almost done so I should be able to post it next week. After that we'll have to see because I am busy right now with work. I do have the last chapter written so the story will be finished, just a bit slower then I would like.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I am not KB, nor do I own anything here but the plot. I don't have anything of value so suing me would be a huge waste of time.

Chapter 4

Erin was bored. She had nothing to do locked in this little room then to stare at the ceiling, which she had been doing for a least an hour already. She had thought about her predicament and came to three options. One: A bolt of lightning had struck her and she was now dead. Two: She had been struck by a bolt of lightning and was now in a coma, and much like the old TV show "Dallas," she was dreaming. Or, the weirdest choice: she fell through some strange time/space portal and was stuck in another world that was back in the dark ages. Erin was kind of hoping for choice number two because she really didn't want to be dead and, lets face it, choice number three was way too weird to be true.

She heard a knock and Ben opened the door holding a mug of tea and a wad of clothes in his arms. "I thought you might like to get cleaned up a bit so I brought you a clean uniform and another mug of tea." Following behind him were a couple of other people dressed like Ben but in blue not green and they rolled in a wide barrel and carried several buckets of steaming water. Hopping up, she exclaimed, "Oh Ben I could kiss you!" Erin waited by the other menders, almost bouncing out of her skin with happiness. She would get to take a bath, one in a real short tub slash barrel, but a bath nonetheless. "That's nice Erin, but ah, you don't need to kiss me for bringing you a bath." Ben stammered, blushing, this girl really confused him. "I have some others to look after but I will come back around twelve hour to bring you something to eat." Erin simply waved her hand at him and then hustled the others out so she could strip. She was looking forward to getting out of her dirty clothes and into clean ones even if they were kind of old fashioned.

After a quick rinse and a long soak in the cramped tub, Erin felt drowsy, so after she pulled on the white shirt and leggings, she crawled back into bed for a nap before lunch.

Twelve hour found Ben back at Erin's door with her meal. He couldn't help but wonder what crazy things she was going to say this time. He really did have to talk with her and figure out where she was from and what she was doing here. He gave a quick knock and pushed open the door. Erin was sitting on the bed waiting for him. "How are we feeling today?" Ben asked setting the tray down on the table. "Any headache or soreness left over from yesterday?" Erin looked at the tray and found more soup and bread with tea for another meal. Really this was getting ridiculous; didn't they have anything else to eat? "I feel fine today. I think the sleep must have helped." Erin pondered the tray and ripped off a hunk of bread. "Is there anyway I can get out of this room today? Maybe see my horse?" Ben shook his head. "Sorry, today you're still on bed rest but I did get word from the stables that your horse is fine. Completely recovered from your ride." Dunking her bread into her soup, she asked, "You sure I can't get out of here? I'm really bored just sitting here doing nothing. Maybe I could watch some TV or something." Ben pretended to think it over and answered. "No, one more day of rest. Tomorrow you will get to leave the room and go see the captain. After that I'm not sure. What's a TV?" Erin stared at Ben "What's a TV?" She asked like he was slow thinking. "A TV is a box with moving pictures inside that get sent down from the sky. It's for entertainment when you're bored or when the weather is bad." Ben seemed to think this over and then asked, "So the TV is a crate with portraits inside that move, and they come from the sky? That sounds different. Is it run by magic perhaps?" "No, not magic, electricity powers the box. The pictures are sent from a building in one location to a satellite in the sky, or to your house's antenna, and your dish or antenna pick up the signal and sends it to your TV." It's really kind of like a radio; if you have the right equipment you can get the signal." Erin finished explaining but she didn't think that Ben understood much of what she said. "Ok, so I think I understand some of that; sort of. But what is a saterlight, electrickaty, and raddeo?" Ben asked more confused then before. Everything she said seemed to lead to more questions that he didn't understand the answers to. "I think that's going to take a week to explain of that stuff, plus the other things I'll have to explain while trying to explain the first thing. I think we better just leave it at it works to cure boredom and leave it at that." Erin shook her head, she now felt pity for her mother when she was going through her why and how phase. "Maybe I could just borrow a book?" She asked hopefully. "You do have those right?" Ben rolled his eyes at her. "Yes we have books. I'll see what I can find for you to read. It may take a while as I have other people to check on but I'll bring you something, and if I get to busy I'll send someone." Ben stood and headed for the door. "Why don't you finish your lunch and take a nap and I should be back by then." Erin shrugged and answered in the affirmative as he went out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Erin took a nap for the lack of anything better to do. Unfortunately, it was a short one and she woke up feeling restless. "Maybe I'll just take a peek outside and see if anyone is there." She thought as she moved to the door. Trying the handle she found it unlocked, so she opened the door and looked around. No once was around so she left the door open and started down the corridor checking out the random wall hangings and suits of armor. It did give her something to do but after an hour of random turns she was lost. She had seen a few people, mostly servants she was guessing, but they just gave her a nod and kept on going. With a sigh, she turned down another corridor and found this one to be filled with voices. Happy to see anyone at this point, she headed towards the noise and come upon what looked like a common area filled with mis-matched furniture and a handful of people.

"Who are you?" One of them asked placing her hand on her saber. "I haven't seen you before and I thought I knew all the riders." Erin held up her hands in a show of surrender and answered, "You could say I'm a new rider. My name is Erin, I got here yesterday." The big guy sitting by the fire stood up and welcomed her into the room. "Karigan, be nice." He chided the saber wielding girl, "I'm Garth and the girl ready to chop you into bits is Karigan, and the guy by the fire is Fergal, and the pretty lady over there is Constance." Erin gave them a small smile and a hello and moved to sit as far as she could from Karigan. That girl was scary. "So where are you from?" Garth asked her while Karigan continued to stare at her like she held the answers to the universe. "Uhm, I'm from a small village." Erin improvised. "It's a long way from here, far far away. I'm sure you've never heard of it." "So that's your horse in the stables then?" Constance asked when Erin wasn't forthcoming about any more information about where she was from. "Yep, he's mine. Had him for a long time now, almost four years. His name is RJ, well Robin Junior is what he used to be called but I shortened it." Finally Karigan spoke up, "Where's your brooch? I don't see it, and what room are you staying in? I thought we had someone in all the furnished ones?" Garth just groaned and mumbled something about being nice, while the other two started looking her over just like Karigan had. "Well, I, ah…."

"She suppose to be in the mending wing I do believe, as that's where I took her back to yesterday after she was found wondering the corridors. Rider Ben was quite put out with her for wondering off." The tall weapon said standing at the door. "Oh joy its Andre again." Erin grumbled, standing up and walking over to him. "Andre?" Garth said. "I thought your name was Fastion?" Fastion just rolled his eyes and pulled some parchment from his pocket. "Karigan, I have a message for you from Drent. I suggest you read it now and I can take your reply after I return this wondering rider to the mending wing." Karigan took the parchment and read it over quickly. Walking over to the table, she picked up a quill and scribbled a reply on the backside of the parchment and folded it over. "Here you go Fastion." She said handing the parchment back to him. "I'll see you later guys, I have go check on Condor before I meet with Drent."

Karigan headed out with one last glance at Erin and the others simply stared at her while Fastion reached over to her and grabbed her arm. "Back to the mending wing for you, as for the rest of you, don't you have messages to deliver or something?" "Not right now." Garth said, plopping back down into his chair. "Got the day off unless something comes up. I plan on doing nothing until I get sent back to the wall." The others were in the same situation, so they were all enjoying a little down time while before they got sent out again. Fastion shook his head at the other riders and started off down the corridor back to the mending wing, dragging Erin along. She barely had time to wave as he pulled her out the door. "Do you have to walk so fast?" Erin said as she hurried to keep up with his larger stride. "Yes." He said as he continued at the same pace. "Ug, slow down for the short person." She grumbled, giving his arm a tug. To her surprise, Fastion stopped hard in his tracks and once again she found herself running into him, then he set off again at his fast pace. "You enjoy doing that don't you." She stated as she was once again being pulled along. Fastion didn't answer but she could swear she heard him chuckle at her. After only a couple minutes he once again had her back in her room in the mending wing. He shoved her inside and then closed the door behind her and turned the lock. "Try to stay put this time." He said to the closed door. "This finding you wondering around the castle is getting old." Fastion didn't wait for her reply as he started off down the corridor towards the royal wing. He had a letter for the king that he was sure he would want to read.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I am not KB, nor do I own anything here but the plot. I don't have anything of value so suing me would be a huge waste of time.

**Chapter 5**

Erin got to listen to another lecture from Ben about wondering off and was informed that her door would remain locked until he came to fetch her in the morning. It didn't matter what angle she tried, he wouldn't listen and simply left her with her dinner and no book to keep her occupied. Out of shear boredom, Erin went to bed early and hoped that tomorrow would be better, or at least she could go outside and see RJ.

The next morning she woke up to Ben bringing her breakfast and he informed her that he would be taking her to meet the captain in an hour so she should eat and make herself presentable by then. It would take at least ten minutes to get to the captains office from the mending wing so Erin should get ready quickly. Wondering what culinary delight she would get this morning, she found more bread and tea along with a small pot of honey butter. She quickly ate, and then changed into the uniform she was given yesterday, and washed her arms and face in the small washbasin. She would have preferred a shower but that wasn't an option this morning. Like clockwork, Ben showed up at her door at quarter till and walked her through the maze of corridors to the captain's office. Giving the door a sharp rap, Ben waited for the captain to tell them to come in. Once she did, Ben ushered Erin in and motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs in front of the captain's desk. "Captain, I need to return to the mending wing but I will return in an hour to escort her back to her room. I suggest locking the door if you need to leave as she has this habit of wondering off and being found by weapons." Ben said with a grin. "Go ahead Ben and I'll see you in one bell and let you know where you will be taking her." The captain answered, dismissing Ben and focusing on Erin.

"Now I here you were impersonating one of my riders, somehow ended up on the side of the road and some merchants took you and brought you here. Since then, you have gotten lost twice and had to be brought back to you room by weapons. Is that about it?" Erin wasn't sure about what answer to give so she glanced around the room to stall for time and think of an answer. Her eyes were drawn to a small treasure chest looking box on the shelf behind the captain. "Uhm, no, yes, and kind of, I believe that answers your questions captain." That captain just stared at Erin waiting for her to clarify. Glancing back at the chest again, Erin sighed and started again. "No I was not impersonating one of your riders. I was simply on a competition ride myself and got stuck in a storm and ended up in some meadow. I left the meadow and rode through the countryside until I came to a road. I picked a good looking direction and headed to what I hoped was a safe place to rest. Somewhere along the line I passed out and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the dark ages stuck in some castle." She shifted in her seat glancing up at the chest she got more aggravated, "All I want to do is go home! No one is telling me anything about where I am and they won't let me see RJ to make sure he is safe, and everyone is walking around dressed in funny clothes, talking about kings and such, for Pete's sake this country was founded on being equal and we kicked the last guy's butt who said he was our king! I know my family has to be worried about why I didn't show up to camp when I should have and since RJ is with me, there is no way for them to know what happened to me. Please just let me go home!" Erin begged the captain, tears filling her eyes and splashing down her cheeks. Quickly, she wiped them away with her sleeve, oh how she hated to cry in front of other people. The captain pulled a handkerchief out of a desk drawer and passed it over to Erin. "Let me see if I understand." The captain started as Erin blew her nose and wiped her face. "You were riding your horse in a competition, like a race?" Erin nodded. "An endurance race. You see how fast you can make it from point to point in a given amount of time with the best conditioned horse and the fastest time winning. The ride I was one was one hundred miles long. We were on the second day when all this happened." The captain was jotting down notes as Erin talked and every once in a while she would brush up against a pin on her uniform. The captain motioned for her to continue her story. "I was almost to the second campsite that I had picked out when this storm blew in. I knew it was supposed to rain but this storm looked bad. All we had to do was get across one last meadow and we would be in the forest that I had picked out for a campsite. The trees would give us some cover from the rain and my grandma was going to meet me at the site with my camping gear." When the captain looked confused, Erin elaborated, "You are allowed a helper to meet you at checkpoints to help with your horse and to bring fresh supplies. That way you don't have to carry everything on your horse which would slow you down." The captain nodded and Erin continued her story, happy that someone seemed to be listening to her and understanding. "Anyway, we were almost there when the storm hits and there was so much lightning that the ground seemed to shake. It was spooking RJ pretty bad and he was bolting off but I managed to get him headed the right direction and let him have his head. Then there was this bright flash of light and this huge boom and all I knew was that we were falling. Then it went dark." Erin stopped to take a breath and gather herself as the captain looked at her. "So there was a bright flash and then nothing?" The captain asked. "Yes, then when I did wake up it was sunny out and RJ and I were laying down in the middle of this meadow in a mud puddle. We were soaking wet but the ground and grass were very dry and brittle like it hadn't rained in a long time." Erin paused again to gather her thoughts, she had to tell someone what was going on and it seemed that she could tell the captain. Holding in all these fears wasn't helping her any after all, and she really wanted to know where the heck she was. "I know I'm not in the same country as I was before or if I am I'm not in the same time as I was. I know that sounds crazy but where I'm from we are a lot more advanced then this." She said gesturing with a hand at the office. "I mean you don't have running water or plumbing from what I can see and when I asked Ben about some things he was completely confused and had no idea what I was talking about." The captain nodded and pulled some of Erin's things out of the saddlebags that were sitting at her feet behind the desk. "Can you tell me what these things are?" She asked her setting the items on her desk. "Sure." Erin answered picking them up one at a time. "This one is a water bottle, it's made out of plastic, not glass so it doesn't break when you drop it, its also lighter too. The shiny thing is an emergency blanket in case you need an extra blanket on the trail or you can use the shiny side to signal for help if you get lost or injured. The socks are just incase I need an extra pair if mine get wet. They also make a handy bandage. These are granola bars to eat on the trail. They are a mix of fruit and nuts and they give you energy. They are small so that you can shove them in a pocket, I always keep some on hand incase I get lost or I think I might get hungry on a ride." That was all the items on the table but since Erin packed her bags she knew there was more. "The other things should have been a white box with a red cross on it. That's a first aid kit incase I get a minor injury while on a ride. There also should have been some mints in there too. RJ likes them as a treat and I like to suck on them so I don't keep drinking all my water out of boredom on a ride. I think that should be everything I had in there. Was there anything else?" The captain shook her head and scooped up the items and placed them back into the saddlebags. "No that was all of them I believe." The captain looked at Erin and thought things over. She really wasn't sure what to do with her. Her brooch let her know that the girl was telling the truth so it seemed that she really wasn't from around here. Maybe she should get Karigan and see what she thought. She had been in enough strange situations over the last few years to recognize when things weren't quite right. The captain watched Erin fidget in her seat a while longer and then decided to try a different approach. Standing up the captain reached to the shelf behind her and grabbed the coffer that Erin had been so interested in. Sitting back down, she placed the box on her desk and pushed it over to Erin. "Go ahead and open it." She prompted. With a shrug, Erin opened the lid and looked inside. She wasn't sure why the captain wanted her to look through her stuff but at lest it was something to do; and she had admired the box since she came in. The box was full of different costume pieces shaped in all sorts of different things. There were dragons and lions, fancy scrolls, one that looked like a cameo, and one near the bottom that appeared to be a horse. Erin dug to the bottom trying to find the horse that she knew was under there someplace. The captain just grinned and sat back in her chair. She would wait for Erin to remember she was in the room. "Gotcha!" Erin said pulling the one she wanted from the bottom of the box and holding it up close to her face to see it better. "_Welcome Rider_."

"Gah!" Erin screamed jumping to her feet and throwing the brooch across the small office where it hit the wall and fell to the floor, narrowly missing the captains head. "Well that's a first." The captain said, reaching down and picking up the brooch and passing it back to Erin. "Normally people are happy to be chosen."

"Keep that thing away from me!" Erin said stepping away from the desk. "It talks! Normal jewelry doesn't talk."

**AN:** Ok, I know where this is going but its been like pulling teeth lately. As I said before the last capter is finished as well as part of the 2nd to last one. Chapter 6 is kicking my butt right now so it is no where near done (I think there is going to be 9 chapters all together). I am going to be super busy the next 3/4 weeks so I am not going to post the next chapter until August sometime. If you review I may post earlier, you never know. Any constructive ideas/thoughts are welcome but if you hate it I don't want to know so don't bother telling me about it.


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